Pests cause millions of human deaths around the world each year. Furthermore, there are more than ten thousand species of pests that cause losses in agriculture. The world-wide agricultural losses amount to billions of U.S. dollars each year.
Termites cause damage to all kinds of private and public structures. The world-wide termite damage losses amount to billions of U.S. dollars each year.
Stored food pests eat and adulterate stored food. The world-wide stored food losses amount to billions of U.S. dollars each year, but more importantly, deprive people of needed food.
There is an acute need for new pesticides. Certain pests are developing resistance to pesticides in current use. Hundreds of pest species are resistant to one or more pesticides. The development of resistance to some of the older pesticides, such as DDT, the carbamates, and the organophosphates, is well known. But resistance has even developed to some of the newer pesticides, for example, imidacloprid.
Therefore, for many reasons, including the above reasons, a need exists for new pesticides.